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Scientific Advisor

Dr. J.P Behr

J-P BehrDr. Jean-Paul Behr currently serves as Directeur de Recherche Classe Exceptionnelle at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and was elected as a member of the French Academy of Sciences in 2008.

Jean-Paul graduated at the head of his class from the University of Strasbourg’s School of Chemical Engineering and subsequently joined Prof. Jean-Marie Lehn in 1969 to study for his Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry which was awarded in 1973. Following postdoctoral work with Dr D. Chapman in Sheffield (UK), where Jean-Paul developed a triplet-triplet annihilation technique for the measurement of lateral diffusion in biological membranes, J-P rejoined Prof. Lehn (1987 Chemistry Nobel Prize Laureate) at the University of Strasbourg to work on the development of Supramolecular Chemistry.

In 1989 J-P moved to the Faculty of Pharmacy (Univ. Strasbourg) to set up the Laboratoire de Chimie Génétique where the focus of his research centered on DNA-binding molecules relevant to biotechnology and gene therapy. Pioneering work from Prof. Behr’s laboratory led to the commercialization of well known transfection reagents such as Transfectam®, Lipofectamine™ and PEI. J-P’s « proton sponge » paradigm for intracellular delivery of nucleic acid-based drugs (more than 2600 citations for a single paper in PNAS) is recognized as a seminal work in supramolecular galenics.

JP Behr has authored more than150 scientific publications, generating more than 12.000 citations and has published 13 patents. In a career devoted to nucleic acids for over 20 years, J-P has delivered more than 300 public lectures worldwide and organized 9 scientific symposia. J-P also served as a retained consultant to pharmaceutical companies (7 in the US, 2 in France, 1 in Switzerland). Dr Behr was a founder of two commercial companies, Eurothera (1993-96) and Polyplus-transfection® (2001) where he continues to serve as a scientific adviser and mentor.

Among many awards, JP Behr is a recipient of the CNRS silver medal, the International Pharmaceutical Society FIP Biotech Award and the Therapeutic Society Paul Ehrlich Award. J-P was founding Associate Editor of the Journal of Gene Medicine and continues to work on the boards of many scientific journals. J-P was also a member of the scientific committee of the American Society of Gene Therapy (2001 Chair, Nonviral Section) and of the European Society of Gene Therapy as well as the French Muscular Dystrophy and Cystic Fibrosis Foundations.